Jimmy Jacob reviews The empty pedestal and other stories by R.M. Rajgopal Dronequil

Jimmy Jacob reviews The empty pedestal and other stories by R.M. Rajgopal Dronequil

Despite the syntactical lapses, Rajgopal's short stories make for a memorable read.

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Jimmy Jacob

August 21, 2014

ISSUE DATE: September 1, 2014

UPDATED: August 23, 2014 09:03 IST

Don't tell me the moon is shining," Anton Chekhov once said. "Show me the glint of light on broken glass." And R.M. Rajgopal, a name of repute in the corporate world, does just that in his book, The Empty Pedestal and Other Stories. The words flow in a near-fluid manner; the plot lines pos-sess a nostalgic quality reminiscent of the works of Ruskin Bond and Etgar Keret; and accompa-nied as they are with liberal dashes of mirth, a chuckle is seldom over a paragraph away. More's the pity, considering the jolt you re-ceive when beautiful imagery and near-flawless storytelling hit the potholes of typographical error, and quite frequently at that. In retro-spect, you wish you could have simply glazed over the imperfections, insignificant as they seem in the larger scheme of things. But then, therein lies the difference between reading a book and the words on a hastily painted MCD signboard. Take note, editors of Dronequill.

A peek beyond the body allows you a glimpse of potential genius. Take, for instance, 'A Genuine Blonde', which sublimely captures the environment in a Malayali household that con-tinues to hold on to the Englishness bestowed upon it by the erstwhile Raj. Or the main story, where a trade union leader trades his life for a hastily constructed concrete bust and a flower garland. While ' Star Quality' contains an ele-ment of predictability, it's on a subject that everybody can relate to-that charismatic jock from our school days, with his charming ways and devil-may-care attitude, today reduced to being just another man who wishes he had stayed awake in trignometry class. A closer-to-home version of 'The Hairy Ape', if I may say so.

A striking aspect of Rajgopal's book is the manner in which it celebrates the cultural di-versity of the country, wherein the good-na-turedness of Bengali hospitality in 'Full Circle' seems no less genuine than the disarmingly en-dearing spirit of the "100 per cent Rajput" Shivraj Singh, as portrayed in 'Of Ducks and Geese'. Comprising 21 quintessentially Indian stories, The Empty Pedestal is definitely a great afternoon read. If you can overlook the odd syntactical transgression, that is.

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